


His Own Black Dog

by GenerallyHuxurious (GallifreyanOmnishambles)



Series: Huxurious Huxloween [19]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arguing, Caring, Compatibility, Dark Past, Demonic Dogs, Demons, Dogs, Drunken Confessions, Drunkenness, Hangover, Implied Non-Human Sex, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Misunderstandings, Paranormal Investigators, Past Infidelity, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Assault, Relationship Problems, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 18:41:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8338540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallifreyanOmnishambles/pseuds/GenerallyHuxurious
Summary: Set in the Eldritch Effect verse. Hux goes missing after Kylo resurrects an old argument based on a terrible misunderstanding. When he returns he's not ok. And he has a new friend with himFor Huxloween Day 21





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sadly this is not a happy EE story, please check the tags if you have triggers. 
> 
> Part of this was posted to Tumblr a few months ago without any resolution so you might recognise elements of it, it's now been reworked and expanded.

"Hux, where the fuck have you been?!" Kylo hissed as he ran towards the redhead, torch beam swinging across the dirt path in front of him. He had no idea where they were now, he'd gone out looking for his husband two hours ago when he'd failed to return from a post-argument walk out.

It had been midday when he'd left, having run out of things to shout once he'd thrown most of the contents of their suitcases at Kylo's head.

The argument had been one of their two longstanding hot buttons topics. They didn’t have many. Compared to almost everyone they knew they had an almost idyllic relationship. But sometimes wires got crossed, words were said without due care and arguments happened. And when they happened they were bad. 

Other than the morality of the military, there was nothing that got Kylo riled up like the mere concept of infidelity. Before he’d met Hux, Kylo had been in the habit of seeing anyone who would have him. Those people had rarely been as invested in the relationship as Kylo was, and most had ended unpleasantly.

This particular argument had started like they usually did - with a misunderstanding.

Hux had insisted that he had only been trying to work out what the hot German tourist's tattoo was supposed to be, while Kylo had just seen his husband staring at someone else. As it did every time this happened, the argument had spiralled inwards until they were both screaming accusations and insinuations about one another's past sex lives.

As always, Kylo had gone for the easy target and pointed out that no matter how many guys he'd fucked, he had known their names and at least they'd all been human. 

He didn't know why he did this, why he just couldn't leave it alone, but it was inevitable that the voice in the back of his head would whisper about all the creatures Hux had been with and how much better they probably were than Kylo. He'd see red and the destruction would start. Or he'd trigger something in Hux, one of the dark little corners of his brain that he never ever spoke about, and it'd suddenly be his skinny little Major standing in amidst a pool of blood and broken glass.

It had been Donal that had snapped first this time, though thankfully he hadn't damaged anything in the hotel room, just thrown clothes around before he'd stormed out into the forest around the resort. And then not come back.

When the sun had started to set without Hux' reappearance Kylo had panicked and gone looking for him. They were supposed to be having a nice relaxing beach vacation. Instead Kylo had spent his evening hunting amongst the creepy tropical trees with a dying torch and totally inappropriate footwear.

So when he'd finally found Hux staggering up the track that led from the nearest town he'd been more pissed than relieved. Especially when he got close enough to smell him. He'd been worried the man had fallen into a gully somewhere. Clearly he'd fallen into a bottle or four of Joyita instead.

"What do you care where I've been?" Hux slurred, continuing past him up the road towards the resort.

Distantly Kylo could hear the trip trap of small hooves over hard ground, but he ignored it as another unimportant nighttime noise.

"I've been looking for you for two fucking hours, Hux! In the woods! In flip-flops! I thought you were dead! I've been eaten alive by mosquitos! I've probably got malaria or dengue fever now, thanks to you."

"I didn't ask you to come looking for me," Hux said belligerently. "I'm not a fucking child Kylo, I can make my own choices about my life."

The sound of hooves was getting louder now as Kylo caught up with his husband.

"Oh yeah, great choice, wandering shitfaced through a forest in fucking Nicaragua where anything could get you."

"I'm safer here than I am in DC." Hux said. He tried to shrug his shoulders in a disinterested way but was too drunk to properly coordinate his limbs.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kylo asked as he grabbed Donal's arm to turn him around. "Why the hell would you think you were saf..."

The hooves reached a crescendo now as a huge black dog finally caught up with them and drove Kylo down into the dirt.

"That's why." Hux said with a laugh as Kylo thrashed around trying to push the creature off him. It had the head and body of a dog but the legs and stench of a goat, and the glowing red eyes of a nightmare.

"Jesus fucking CHRIST!!! Don't just stand there, Hux, fucking help me!!" Kylo shouted as he punched at the animal's muzzle, not yet realising that it wasn't actually trying to bite him.

"Awwww don't hit him!" Hux said, wrapping his arms around the beast’s neck and drawing it away from Kylo. "He's just doing what he does best, aren't you? Yes, you are! Who's a good boy?! Is it you? Yes, it is!"

Kylo stared in horror at his husband. 135lb Hux, redheaded and sunburnt, in horrible yellow boardshorts and a lime green wifebeater, was sitting in the dirt cuddling an eldritch nightmare like it was the family labrador.

"Hux, that's a Cadejo! A BLACK Cadejo!" He said, his voice going up in pitch as he sat up, waving his right arm in terrified frustration. "It's not a dog, it's got hooves! It's a demon! They eat people!"

The look Hux gave him would have been one of reproach, if it hadn't been clear that he didn't know which Kylo to focus on thanks to all the rum in his bloodstream.

"First of all, that's racist, and I'm very disappointed in you. Just because this little sweetheart," he paused to rub the creature's neck and loudly smooch it's nose, "has black fur that doesn't mean he's going to eat anyone. Now does it? No doesn't! You wouldn't eat Kylo would you? No, you wouldn't because you're a good boy! Yes you are! And I bet his flesh tastes terrible too! Yes it does!"

"HUX!!" Kylo shouted in disgust as the huge thing licked his prattling husband's face. "It's. A. Demon. Put. It. Down. You're drunk, you don't know what you're doing."

"Fuck you." Hux snapped, his gaze suddenly ice cold and totally lucid. "You always act like I don't know what I'm doing when, let’s face it, I'm smarter than you. I know exactly what I'm doing."

"Yeah, just like you did when you suc..." Kylo stopped. This was why Hux had walked out. Was he really going to start that argument all over again? Thinking better of it, Kylo decided not to go there. "It's a demon Hux, please, let's get back to the hotel before it eats us."

"Look, it's basically a Gytrash." Hux said, continuing to ruffle it's fur. "I grew up going on holiday in the North York Moors every bloody summer, they're easy. All dog based critters are basically the same. You just give them treats and belly rubs and they're your best friend."

"It literally just attacked me."

"It's just doing what it's supposed to, it's fine." Hux said wearily, leaning against the beast's side. The lucidity was wearing off again now.

Kylo stood up and reached a hand down towards his husband. "I don't want you getting hurt."

Hux mumbled something but his words were muffled by fur.

"What was that?"

With a heavy sigh Hux hauled himself upright, leaning heavily on the creature’s back as he did so. The Cadejo just stood there panting happily, apparently unfazed by the burden.

"I said, they don't hurt drunks. So I'm perfectly fucking safe aren't I?"

"You're not 'a drunk'." Kylo said, frowning as Hux started off towards the resort again, the beast still pressed against his hip in support.

"Ye'I'am," he slurred, "can't even have a fucking argument without getting plastered. Certainly can't fucking tell you why I hate that stupid fucking argument without getting blackout fucking drunk..."

"That's a lot of 'fucking' there Hux..." Kylo joked but Hux didn't notice the interruption.

"Definitelyabsolutelycanttellyouaboutthetimeiwasraped." Hux concluded, his words slurring together into one long sound.

Kylo stood staring at him for a moment as his brain processed the noises back into coherence. Abruptly his blood ran cold. "Donal, what..."

There was a thump as the last of the rum reached his brain and Hux finally passed out. The Cadejo nosed at him then turned its massive head towards Kylo, whining softly.

"Oh, Donal..." Kylo sighed as he scooped up the now snoring redhead and carried him back to the resort, a worried demon snapping at his heels. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

Hux woke to brilliant sunlight filtered through diaphanous curtains and the soft white of a mosquito net. It wasn't dark enough. His head was going to split open. He pulled the blankets up over his face and groaned.

"Hey."

He pulled them down again just far enough to uncover one eye. Kylo was sitting beside the bed with a Bloody Mary and a worried expression.

"Gimme." Hux mumbled, one grasping hand snaking out through the netting. Carefully Kylo slotted the glass into his unsteady fingers, keeping a supportive grip on the glass as Donal downed it in one swallow.

"Urgh. Horrible. That poison still can't beat a fried breakfast." He groaned, returning back to the comforting darkness under the covers.

"I know," Kylo said, his voice muffled as he moved about the room, "that why I ordered you one. It'll be about fifteen minutes."

"You ordered me a proper English breakfast?"

"Yep."

"With bacon? And sausage? And a fried slice? And mushrooms? And that tomato no one ever actually eats?"

"Yep. And the chef found black pudding too."

"Ooh fuck, Kylo, I love you." Hux moaned softly, wriggling under the blankets.

The mattress shifted as Kylo sat on the edge of the bed, one massive hand resting on Donal's thigh. "I know, I love you too. Even if I did have to chase a demon out of here with a standing lamp at 6am."

"Sorry."

"Meh, it was kinda cute, until you started to sober up. Then it was kinda bitey."

"Sorry." Hux repeated, staring up at the blackness of his fabric cocoon as Kylo patted his leg.

A silence developed, dragged and turned uncomfortable. He could hear Ren's breathing, the hitches each time he opened his mouth to speak them changed his mind. Hux wondered if he could force himself to go back to sleep despite the headache.

"Donal," Kylo began. Kylo who never ever called him that. Who said it didn't suit him, who called him by his surname or a collection of obscene nicknames. No. Don't. Just stop. "Donal... What you said last night..."

"I don't know what you mean."

"About bein..."

"I. Don't. Know. What. You. Mean."

"Please Hux, please just talk to me."

"I really don't want to and frankly this isn't something you have any right to make me discuss with you."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

The silence returned. Neither man moved, Hux under the sheets and Kylo above, his hand hot where it remained on Donal's leg. His knees were aching. Not as much as his head but they were still complaining of inattentive use and too far walked over uneven ground. He needed his meds. He needed to get sober. Properly sober, not fine-until-it-isn't sober.

There was a knock at the door. Kylo left the bed. Rationally Hux knew he was only going to the door to get food but he found he had to watch him, that part of him didn't believe he would stay.

The smell of hot grease and salt dragged him upright by his tastebuds and compelled him to stagger to the balcony table where Kylo was pulling the lids from trays. He'd already set out Donal's painkillers next to a pot of tea and a carafe of orange juice. Somehow, that gesture- from a man who frequently forgot to allow time in his daily hair care routine for Hux to use the shower- made him almost want to cry.

The food was perfect, as it should be considering how expensive this place would have been if Kylo's parents weren't paying. Hux ate slowly, waiting for his meds to kick in and wishing it were possible to turn down the sun. Kylo was working methodically through his dozen eggs, his gaze fixed on the boats near the horizon.

"Sometimes you do things because it's the only way to get out of a situation and you don't think about what's happened until a lot later." Hux said quietly, speaking to the tea pot rather than to Kylo. 

The other man didn’t move his gaze, but a hand settled over one of Donal’s to signal that he was listening. Hux turned his hand palm upward and linked their fingers.

“I don’t regret my life.” He continued. “Most of it. I’ve met people, and experienced things other people only dream about. And most of those people and things have been pleasant. I mean… even Jareth. That deal is binding for the rest of my life- I fellated a faerie, I swallowed, I have to spend 36 hours in the Unseelie realm every year. And those were great hours. Then I met you and the first time I was summoned I said ‘sorry I’m in love with someone else’ and he just… invited me to hang out. The last two years, it’s just been, I dunno, chatting I guess. He’s lonely and there aren’t many return visitors there…”

He sighed, pouring another cup of tea and staring into the reflection on the surface as if it contained the secret to the thread of his thoughts. 

“My point is, my commanding officer was taken, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to solve that damn labyrinth so I made him an offer I was happy to make. It was my choice, one I would have made even if there wasn’t a labyrinth and we’d just met in a club. And most of my life has been like that. I might not have known their names because they didn’t speak English, but I enjoyed it. And I honestly don’t want to talk about it, but there was a time with something else where that wasn’t the case. Something very not human that was probably going to kill me if I didn’t… what it… Anyway. That’s why I hate it when you… when you do that...”

“Donal, I’m sorry, I didn’t know any of that. The way you talk about stuff, so casual, it didn’t occur to me.” Kylo said, squeezing his hand. 

Hux squeezed back.

“I didn’t know the Goblin King had changed the deal so much either.” Kylo continued quietly. “That why I…” He trailed off with a loud swallow.

“‘The deal is just for my time not what I do with it, I…” Hux broke off, frowning. “Wait, Kylo, did you think I was still going off to fuck Jareth once a year? Even though I’m married to you?”

There was no reply. Donal finally looked up. Tears were silently running down Kylo’s face and dripping off his jaw.

“Fuck, Hux I’m so sorry. I just… I… Fuck.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, finishing their meals and watching the boats.

“We’re idiots.” Hux said at last. 

“You’re not wrong. Though arguably I’m the much bigger idiot.”

“But you’re my idiot, and I’m yours.”

The smile Kylo gave him was a little wobbly, but it’d do for now.

“It’s still too fucking bright out here.” Hux continued, finishing his tea and tugging at Kylo’s hand as he stood. “What you do say to coming back to bed with me and we can spend the whole day cuddling under the covers?”

“I’d say that sounds perfect.”


End file.
